Bad vibes from the new tram

Sat, 01 Apr 2023 00:00:00 +0000

Our showers were banned from use due to the new tram line running in front of my workplace, the Helsinki University Viikki campus. During the trial runs of the tram, I noticed cracks in the changing room’s wall and the showers. I reported these cracks sometime in February to our janitors. Apparently, the structural damage includes the wastewater pipes, and that’s why we can’t have showers anymore. That is a bummer, especially in the summer. To my understanding, the condition of the university buildings had been documented before the construction of the tram line started. Now the investigation is underway to determine whether the additional damage was caused by the construction or the trial runs (and who has to pay for the damage repair).Since I either cycle or run to work, I need to take a shower every morning. My morning routine has become more difficult since the replacement showers have no place where I can hang my wet clothes and towel for drying. While this causes some inconvenience, there will be more serious consequences if there is a causal connection to the tram operation: The university has expensive research equipment, which is sensitive to vibrations. It is incomprehensible how the top university administration could have agreed with the city of Helsinki to run the tram line directly in front of the University building. In fact, the tram now makes a detour to go along Viikinkaari. The more natural and shorter route would have been about 200 meters South of the current track (along Viikintie), avoiding all this trouble. In order to build the tracks directly in front of Biocenter 1 and 2, millions of additional Euros were wasted on vibration-dampening elements to protect our high-end equipment from vibrations. And perhaps all that money was wasted if it should appear that the efforts were insufficient.

Prisma Viikki and customer's rights revisited

Wed, 03 Jul 2013 00:00:00 +0000

I bought a lamp from Prisma for 24,95€. Because it was named “plafondi”, I assumed it is a ceiling lamp: “plafond” is French for ceiling. But I was wrong. It was not for attachment to the ceiling, but for wall-mounting (strangely on Prisma’s website it is called “Plafondi-seinävalaisin” which is an oxymoron). I realised that when I saw that the plug was of the regular type and not for a ceiling socket. So I exchanged the plug and attached it to the ceiling. When I screwed in the bulb and turned the light switch, it remained dark. I had bought the bulb (Megaman Liliput 11W E14 thread) together with the lamp from Prisma. I was even more perplexed when another E14 bulb worked perfectly in that lamp.

The Alphabet of Angiogenesis

Thu, 31 Dec 1998 00:00:00 +0000

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Viikki on Michael’s Domain

Bad vibes from the new tram

Prisma Viikki and customer's rights revisited

The Alphabet of Angiogenesis

Available Downloads